University of British Columbia, Department of Statistics

Position ID:UBC-Department of Statistics-APOTMDS [#20969]
Position Title: Assistant Professor of Teaching - MDS/STAT
Position Type:Tenured/Tenure-track faculty
Position Location:Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [map] sort by distance
Subject Areas: Statistics
Data Science
Appl Deadline:2022/02/22 11:59PMhelp popup finished (2022/01/17, finished 2022/05/24)
Position Description:    

*** this position has been closed and new applications are no longer accepted. ***

Faculty position in Education Leadership in the Department of Statistics

The University of British Columbia, Vancouver [1] invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Teaching position in the Department of Statistics [2], with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2022 or January 1, 2023. The position has a primary focus on contributing to the delivery and further development of the Master of Data Science (MDS) program [3], while also involving contributions to other departmental programs. The MDS program is a collaborative effort of the Department of Computer Science [4], the Department of Statistics and the Faculty of Science [5].

This position provides the opportunity, with strong institutional support, to pursue a career based on excellence in teaching and educational leadership, while participating in the intellectually exciting atmosphere of two top-tier departments jointly supporting the first comprehensive MDS program in Canada. This career path can make an impact on education both within and beyond the classroom, as well as both within and beyond UBC. Assistant Professor of Teaching, is the first rank in UBC’s Educational Leadership Stream [6 7 8], followed by Associate Professor of Teaching (with tenure), and then Professor of Teaching.

The MDS program focusses on the innovative and responsible use of data science across a broad spectrum of data types and domain areas. It is a 10-month, professional graduate program, with 8 months of course modules followed by a 2-month capstone project. The sixth cohort of 116 students began their studies in September 2021. This program has grown rapidly subsequent to enrolling its first cohort in September 2016, with several offshoot programs now available.

The successful applicant will be expected to teach within both the MDS program and other departmental programs. They will also actively participate in department activities, service, events and initiatives. Specific duties of this position include:

·         Liaising with capstone project partners and mentoring student capstone teams.

·         Collaborating with module instructors to ensure coherence of the MDS program.

·         Facilitating the transfer of instructional material and techniques between MDS and other departmental programs.

·         Fostering a positive learning environment for MDS students.

·         Expanding the MDS curriculum and ensuring it remains modern.

·         Liaising with other UBC units engaged in data science teaching and learning initiatives.

It is anticipated that successful candidate will hold a Ph.D. (in Statistics, Biostatistics, or a related field), though applicants with other advanced degrees and/or relevant experience will be considered. The successful candidates must provide evidence of: excellence in, and commitment to, undergraduate and graduate teaching; ability to work collaboratively as well as independently, and to supervise the work of others; promise of educational leadership at UBC and nationally or internationally; and potential for creating innovative instructional environments. Experience with evidence-based teaching methods, curriculum development, course design, and other initiatives that advance the university’s ability to excel in its teaching and learning mandate is also an asset. Candidates motivated to innovate around the teaching of both core statistical topics (e.g., estimation, hypothesis testing, statistical modeling) and more nascent data science topics (e.g., ethics, visualization, data wrangling, transparent and reproducible workflows) are particularly attractive.

The Department of Statistics is a leading international centre for statistical science. The department hosts undergraduate programs and courses which continue to grow and evolve rapidly, as well as vibrant graduate programs. Recent initiatives undertaken by the department’s current Educational Leadership faculty, along with their research faculty counterparts, include authoring textbooks, pioneering the use of classroom learning technologies such as Jupyter Notebooks [9] and nbgrader [10], developing and sharing the use of introductory statistics learning resources via StatSpace [11], and integrating R into WeBWorK via the WeBWorKiR project [12]. Such initiatives position the department as a hub for innovation in statistical and data science education, and evidence-based pedagogy. The department is also home to the Applied Statistics and Data Science Group [13], which supports research and graduate-level training inside and outside the department. Research faculty in the department excel in theory and methods research, while also being known for collaborative and impactful research with domain-area experts.

A natural outgrowth of our teaching philosophy and our collaborative research is our engagement in UBC’s leading-edge data science initiatives. In 2019, the department launched a new first-year data science course, DSCI 100 [14] and in 2021 collaborated with the Department of Computer Science to launch a Minor in Data Science [15]. This minor built on the earlier success of these two departments collaborating to design and launch the MDS program [3]. Department faculty are also active members of the Data Science Institute [16], which brings together a critical mass of data science researchers at UBC.

UBC’s strategic plan identifies inclusion as one of our key priorities. We welcome colleagues with experiences and competencies that can contribute to our principles of inclusion, equity, and diversity throughout campus life. In your application, please include a statement describing your experience working with a diverse student body and your contributions to creating/advancing a culture of equity and inclusion on campus or within your discipline.

All applications must be submitted online to the Academic Jobs Online website. Interested applicants should submit

·         a cover letter,

·         a detailed Curriculum Vitae,

·         a statement of teaching and training philosophy,

·         a statement of vision for data science education,

·         a diversity statement,

·         and the names of three references who have been asked to send reference letters (via upload to Academic Jobs Online)

 

When possible, candidates are encouraged to include, in their cover letter, hyperlinks to one or two examples of their teaching materials.

Review of applications will begin February 22, 2022. Applications which are complete by this date, including the receipt of the three reference letters, are guaranteed full consideration.

Questions about the recruitment can be directed to the search committee chair, Dr. Tiffany Timbers, at the address search@stat.ubc.ca.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.

Applicants will be asked to complete an equity survey. The survey information will not be used to determine eligibility for employment, but will be collated to provide data that can assist us in understanding the diversity of our applicant pool and identifying potential barriers to the employment of designated equity group members. Applicants’ participation in the survey is voluntary and confidential and takes only a minute to complete. Applicants may self-identify in one or more of the designated equity groups, or may also decline to identify in any or all of the questions by choosing "not disclosed."

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

 

[1] www.ubc.ca 

[2] www.stat.ubc.ca

[3] masterdatascience.ubc.ca     

[4] www.cs.ubc.ca

[5] science.ubc.ca   

[6] www.hr.ubc.ca/faculty-relations/collective-agreements/appointment-faculty/#3

[7] ctlt.ubc.ca/programs/all-our-programs/teaching-and-educational-leadership

[8] science.ubc.ca/sites/science.ubc.ca/files/FacultyofScience_EL_DP.pdf

[9] jupyter.org  

[10] nbgrader.readthedocs.io  

[11] statspace.elearning.ubc.ca

[12] wiki.ubc.ca/Documentation:WeBWorK/The_WeBWorKiR_Project:_Integrating_WeBWorK_with_R

[13] asda.stat.ubc.ca

[14] github.com/UBC-DSCI/dsci-100

[15] datascience.ubc.ca/minor

[16] dsi.ubc.ca


Application Materials Required:
Submit the following items online at this website to complete your application:
And anything else requested in the position description.

Further Info:
www.stat.ubc.ca
email address
 
Department of Statistics
Faculty of Science
The University of British Columbia
3182 Earth Sciences Building
2207 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4